Is it Time to Start Rice Cereal?

I just got back from a glorious two day (childless) getaway with just my husband. And by childless, I mean we left all four kids with my parents, and enjoyed 48 amazing kid free hours.

In order to pull this little kid-free extravaganza, days of prep and planning went into making sure everyone had what they needed while I was away. Particularly, baby Paul and all his breast milk needs.

Because Paul is 100% breastfed, I’ve been pumping, bagging, and freezing milk for ages now. And in just two quick days, it was all used up. Almost 15 bags of frozen liquid gold, gulped down his bitty baby hatch.

I packed what I considered way more milk than I thought he would need, but he drank it all!

And now I’m left to believe I don’t make enough milk to fill baby Paul up.

I told my mom (who was taking care of Paul in my absence) to feed him in five ounce bottle increments, every three or so hours. Throwing my instructions to the wind, she filled the bottles to eight ounces, and he easily drank them down.

Eight ounces in one sitting, who knew?

Here’s the thing, I know I don’t make eight ounces per feeding. While I was away form Paul, I pumped every three hours, I was lucky to pump out 5 ounces.

Have I mentioned Paul’s not sleeping through the night? Might my lack of supply be the reason?

I’m thinking it might be time to start the next food phase. I wanted to hold off until the six month mark before introducing rice cereal, which would be July 13th, but I think we’re going to start a few weeks earlier than planned.

While I’m excited for his next food adventure, it’s also bittersweet. For the last five months, I’ve been Paul’s everything when it comes to nourishment. And this week that’s all going to change.

Stay tuned, I hope to post epic photos and commentary on how it all went down (the hatch).

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